The present invention relates to a data transfer control device, an electronic instrument, and a data transfer control method.
It has recently become popular to distribute digital audio-visual (AV) data by digital broadcasting or over the Internet. Together with the spread of this digital distribution of AV data, there have been increasing demands for digital recording/reproduction devices (electronic instruments) that are capable of recording the thus-distributed data efficiently.
A high-speed serial bus such as one in accordance with IEEE 1394 or the universal serial bus (USB) 2.0 is used for the transfer of AV data. A digital recording/reproduction device (electronic instrument) that records AV data is preferably provided with a storage medium such as a hard disk drive (HDD) that is capable of storing large volumes of data at high speed.
For that reason, the demand is increasing for a data transfer control device that can transfer data at high speed between a high-speed bus in accordance with IEEE 1394 or USB 2.0 and a storage medium such as an HDD.
The AV data might require copyright protection, depending on the contents thereof. It is therefore preferable that a data transfer control device that transmits AV data is also capable of protection with respect to the confidentiality of such AV data.